A Seasoned Language Arts Teacher shares his time-tested methods for illuminating Classical and Contemporary Literature through student-sourced live performance.
In this eye-opening book, Educator Robert Fee reveals how his Text-Breaking process can transform the Language Arts Classroom into an impromptu stage in which each participant plays a part, becoming fully engaged in that mysterious alchemy that takes place when Text, Speaker and Listeners are united and transformed by the power of the spoken word.
Includes Supportive Resources:
Lesson Plans
Teacher Handouts
Extensive Bibliography
About the Author
Robert Fee is both a teacher and student. He teaches English at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, CT. He has written curriculum for the English Language Arts classes and advised graduating classes. Robert graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2005 with a double major in History and English. He received his teaching certification from Central Connecticut State University in 2009 and finished his Master’s degree at The Graduate Institute in 2017. In addition to his work and studies, Robert is passionate about the arts. He is an avid fan of film drama and literature. Robert is an avid gardener and maintains a home in Higganum, CT.
A Modern-Day Scholar and Educator combines ancient and contemporary wisdom in this elegant blueprint for creating meaning from the chaos of everyday life.
From Being to Becoming: Living an Authentic and Meaningful Life, is predicated on sharing both the insights Dr. Trifone has learned from decades of personal experience, as well as from numerous books he has read that guided him in living an authentic and meaningful life. Therefore this book is for anyone who will benefit by exploring perennial questions about how to walk a path that leads to a full and authentic life. Through narratives and participatory exercises, the book explores the relationships among two transformative concepts. The first involves awakening from a state of static Being to one of dynamic Becoming whereby the journeyer discovers and lives out the soul’s purpose. The second is living authentically or “walking the talk”— walking the path of what we perceive as our soul’s purpose. Therefore, instead of referring to ourselves as “human beings,” we can start seeing the potential in each of us to evolve into human becomings. To quote a wise Zen dictum, “The journey is the destination.” It is in successfully navigating those journeys that our hearts, minds, and souls come to experience fulfillment. This book is about living an authentic life as perceived through the eyes of one journeyman. The journey he shares is the culmination of many lessons learned along the meandering path he has walked over the past sixty-seven years. It represents his personal philosophy, developed over decades of reading, teaching, and navigating the unexpected vicissitudes of life.
From Being to Becoming is divided into chapters called “sojourns.” A sojourn is a stopping point along a journey. At each sojourn, the reader is provided with insights from a variety of wisdom sources regarding how one realizes their life purpose. Each sojourn focuses on ways to realign mind, body, and spirit. Therefore to approach this realignment, we first have to understand that the individual “self” needs to be reconceived as a holistic “Self” that interconnects with all that exists. As a holistic Self, one soon realizes that there are no accidents. All that exists are what Psychologist Carl Jung referred to as “synchronicities,” or “meaningful coincidences.” Significant and sometimes tragic events occur in our lives; they are meant to serve as lessons to be learned. While our fates are not predetermined, the choices we make each moment do affect the potential ones we will have in the future. Although we have free will, there is a destiny emblazoned on our souls from birth that we are meant to discover and walk toward.
Negative events plague us all. They are where living authentically finds its definition. Being happy in good times is easy. But those who find lessons to be learned in down times are the ones who emerge afterward with a new resolve, confidence, and certitude that everything works out for the best in the end if we believe it can. Mythologist Joseph Campbell referred to the “hero’s journey” as the challenge we all face in life. Here we face the choice: whether to accept the challenge or acquiesce and submit to defeat. You are either the hero or the goat. Accepting the challenge comes with the risk of failure. But bowing to adversity yields certain failure. Living authentically means understanding that life is not to be feared; it is to be embraced and lived to the fullest. Those of a positive and courageous spirit accept the challenge, believing that they will emerge as heroes, and that new conviction, strength, and wisdom will redefine them. The hero’s journey forges authenticity and meaningfulness in our lives. This work is an outgrowth of navigating Dr. Trifone’s personal hero’s journey with the hope that others may benefit from the lessons learned. In the end, this book challenges the reader to find meaning in the universe and to live a more-authentic and meaningful life.
Endorsements
From Being to Becoming: Living an Authentic & Meaningful Life, explores perennial questions about life and each one’s certain place and exceptional role here. Dr. Trifone’s thesis, which is shored up by voluminous research and appropriate text exercises, offers answers to ageless questions via scientific, philosophical, psychological, spiritual and theological perspectives. Living an authentic existence in both the pursuit of truth and acceptance of it, seeing ourselves as part of a greater truth in harmony with the Creator and with whom we serve as co-creators is underscored here in a highly academic yet communicative, congenial and affable approach.
The scholarship of this text is much needed in a challenged culture where ego has yielded to narcissism due to decades of myriad, made-for-the-market, pop psychology, self-improvement pulp books that appeared timely when they flooded bookstores but proved far from timeless.
-James Lomuscio, New York Times journalist, and Author of Writing with Your Head and Heart
Dr. Trifone gives us a no-nonsense everyman’s guide to rich and meaningful living. Read, enjoy, and follow its suggestions. Such advice is rare.
-Allan Leslie Combs, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS); Founder and President of the International Association of Consciousness Studies, author of The Radiance of Being
This book is a pilgrimage into a pathway of becoming where Jim Trifone invites us to become sojourners who enter into our deeper selves amidst the challenges of daily life. He opens up the doors to both inner and outer landscapes of discovery. These are doors of insight to navigate our way forward. He understands that life requires food for the soul and the body-nourishment for the pilgrimage. The book arises from an immense journey of discovery. Indeed, this is a heroic journey of a teacher turned pilgrim. As we join him on the pilgrimage, we shed our static selves and enter into a new state of becoming.
-Mary Evelyn Tucker Ph.D., Co-founder and Co-Director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar, Yale University
Magic in Plain Sight isn’t a book about magic, but it is a magic book.
Designed as a guide to revealing the power and possibility in what s present, Magic in Plain Sight offers an alternative to the common approaches used to heal or transform: If I could only break free from this (bad thing) that s happening, I could create more of that (good thing) I want to have happen.
Instead, this book encourages you to discover and explore the vital and perhaps long-overlooked elements already contained in the stories you live and tell, so a new experience unfolds.
In this way, the wisdom embedded in these chapters demonstrates how to change everything by changing nothing, except your perspective.
Magic In Plain Sight also invites you-by inference- to become your own magician. By the time you reach the last page, you ll be better equipped to perform some of life’s most valuable magic tricks: expressing fully, loving boldly, and partnering co-creatively in the wild ride of a rapidly changing world.
Presents the first history of the new field of oral-formulaic theory, which arose from the pioneering research of Milman Parry and Albert Lord on the Homeric poems.
Reviews
” . . . excellent book . . . ” ―The Classical Outlook
” . . . brief and readable . . . There is good tonic in these pages for the serious student of oral tradition . . . a remarkable book.” ―Asian Folklore Studies
“The bibliography is a boon for students and faculty at any level who are curious about the nature, composition, and performance of oral poetry.” ―Choice
“As ever, Professor Foley’s conscientious scholarship and sound judgements combine to make a further substantial contribution to the field.” ―E. C. Hawkesworth, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, The Slavonic Review
“Foley is probably the only scholar who is in a position even to suggest the extent of what we should know to work in this area.” ―Speculum
“Foley’s survey stands as a fitting tribute to the achievements of Parry and Lord and as a sure guide to future productive work in the field.” ―Journal of American Folklore
” . . . detailed and informative study . . . We are fortunate that John Foley chose to write this book.” ―Motif
” . . . Theory of Oral Composition . . . detailed account written in an elegant style which could serve equally as a textbook for college and graduate students and as a reference tool for scholars already in the field.” ―Olifant
“As an ‘introductory history,’ The Theory of Oral Composition accomplishes its purpose admirably. It has the capacity to arouse interest on the part of the uninitiated.” ―Anthropologica
About the Author
About the Author
Negative events plague us all. They are where living authentically finds its definition. Being happy in good times is easy. But those who find lessons to be learned in down times are the ones who emerge afterward with a new resolve, confidence, and certitude that everything works out for the best in the end if we believe it can. Mythologist Joseph Campbell referred to the “hero’s journey” as the challenge we all face in life. Here we face the choice: whether to accept the challenge or acquiesce and submit to defeat. You are either the hero or the goat. Accepting the challenge comes with the risk of failure. But bowing to adversity yields certain failure. Living authentically means understanding that life is not to be feared; it is to be embraced and lived to the fullest. Those of a positive and courageous spirit accept the challenge, believing that they will emerge as heroes, and that new conviction, strength, and wisdom will redefine them. The hero’s journey forges authenticity and meaningfulness in our lives. This work is an outgrowth of navigating Dr. Trifone’s personal hero’s journey with the hope that others may benefit from the lessons learned. In the end, this book challenges the reader to find meaning in the universe and to live a more-authentic and meaningful life.
